Final Debug.

The Dynamic Mail Bag

In last week's Final Debug, we published David Strom's column on the competing standards for reating Dynamic HTML. It garnered an avalanche of response. Here's a sample of what you had to say:

Paul Scholz wrote: "I think the proper thing to do regarding Dynamic HTML is to let the market sort it out. Web developers will choose those tools that let them produce the most compelling user experience for their target audience. Users will chose the browser that works best with the sites they want to visit.

"Does this mean that developers will have to build sites for more than one browser type? Of course . . . thus has it always been. Do we Web developers like this state of affairs? Of course not . . . but the competition between Netscape and Microsoft has a terrific side effect . . . innovation. The ability to cope with the rapid pace of technical change is what separates real developers from the wannabes.

"In an earlier column, you gave some tips on how to pick a good Web developer. Here is one you missed . . . simply pick one of the Level 3 members of the Microsoft Site Builder Network. Although hundreds of companies have applied, only 45 companies in the US (57 worldwide) have made the grade so far.

"Keep up the good work."

Eric Negron wrote: "Netscape and Microsoft may be duking it out over Dynamic HTML but they truly miss the boat. Dynamic HTML should be just that--HTML, not more, not less. By producing pure HTML you assure yourself and your audience of consistency. Starting with CGI programming and now server-side Java for dynamically producing pages in HTML, Dynamic HTML has developed quite a bit and promises to be far more useful than propriety scripting languages."

Robert Husted, who works for Netscape, sent the following: "David Strom's article on Dynamic HTML was an interesting one and certainly very even in its assessment of Microsoft's and Netscape's strategies. One point to note: the (less than)layer(greater than) tag allows you to place one HTML page on top of another . . . you can even specify the width and height of the layer, the background color, etc. If you've ever used Photoshop then you'll know how useful layers can be. Using JavaScript you can move these pages around on the screen . . . creating a motion effect as text and/or graphics move across the browser window. Here are some examples of layers:

http://www1.nisiq.net/jimmean s/ridge/ and

http://home/comprod/products/communicator/betafeatures.html.

The Stella Chelsea demo is quite remarkable--my personal favorite."

Abe Ibrahim gave us his two cents: "I hope before you write an article, you can identify yourself to the people. Not just who you are, but what you are as well. As for the article, Dynamic HTML, by David Storm, I sensed an anti-Microsoft sentiment in his words. I bet that he's also a WordPerfect user. A reporter should only submit his or her opinion in the Neutral Zone. Let me tell you a little history: I think that the most powerful operating system yet to exist is UNIX, a truly open system that is not handicapped in any way. I only blame AT&T for not restricting its license with a set of standards. DOS on the other hand was in the hands of IBM, and IBM set the PC standard. Hence, DOS was controlled and it took off. One mistake IBM made was not to buy DOS outright. Then Microsoft would have to pay IBM to run Windows--without DOS, you cannot run Windows 1.x, 2.x and 3.x. That would bring Microsoft to its knees. Bill Gates would have been a great general if he was in the military. He is the best strategist there is. Until now, no one has been able to beat him at his own game. I hope this adds to your knowledge and opens other topics for you."

Finally, J.M. Ivler opted out of the Microsoft vs. Netscape argument: " Sun has a thing called SunScript that was formerly called Tcl. It will be tightly integrated with Java using Javabeans. Oh my, open cross platform scripting that plugs into the power of Java. What will they think of next?

(Disclaimer: I am the author of CGI Developer's Resource: Web Programming in Tcl and Perl and a major Tcl bigot.)"

Come back next week for the return of the contest (we mean it this time)!